Newcastle, New South Wales

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Newcastle
New South Wales

Population:
• Density:		 512,000 (2007) (7th)
575.5[citation needed]/km²
Established: 1797
Area: 4041.8[citation needed] km²
Time zone:

 • Summer (DST)

 AEST (UTC+10)

AEDT (UTC+11)
LGA: City of Newcastle
County: Northumberland
State District: Newcastle
Federal Division: Newcastle
Newcastle CBD
Newcastle CBD

Newcastle is the seventh largest and the second oldest city in Australia [1] and the second largest in the state of New South Wales. It is also a Local Government Area administered by the Newcastle City Council. Situated 160 km north of Sydney, on the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Valley region. It is the largest coal export harbour in the world and boasts massive coal deposits which cover much of the region beyond the city. Last year coal exports alone were valued at A$6 billion[citation needed]. It is also home to the most beaches in Australia with over 20 beaches from Lake Macquarie to Port Stephens.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Pre-European Settlement

A view of Newcastle from Stockton
A view of Newcastle from Stockton

Newcastle and The Hunter Valley were traditionally occupied by the Awabakal and Worimi Aboriginal People.

[edit] Founding and Settlement by Europeans

The first European to explore the area was Lt. John Shortland in September, 1797. His discovery of the area was largely accidental; Shortland had been sent in search of a number of convicts who had seized the Cumberland as she was sailing from Sydney Cove. While returning he entered what he later described as "a very fine river" which he named after New South Wales' Governor, John Hunter. Shortland also returned with reports of the deep-water port and abundant coal in the area. Over the next two years, coal mined from the area was the New South Wales colony's first export.

Newcastle was nicknamed "Hell" by the most brutal convicts as it was a place where the most dangerous convicts were sent to dig in the coal mines as harsh punishment for their crimes.

By the turn of the century the mouth of the Hunter River was being visited by diverse groups of men, including coal hewers, timber-cutters, and more escaped convicts. Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales from 1800, decided on a more positive approach to exploit the now obvious natural resources of the Hunter Valley.

Besides coal, vast cedar forests covered a huge tract up the Hunter, a source of urgently needed building timber for the infant Sydney colony.

Governor King decided to establish a small post at the river mouth, however this first settlement was short lived. It was headed by one Corporal Wixtead, who was then suddenly replaced by Surgeon Martin Mason. Surgeon Mason's rule ended in a mutiny, and Governor King closed the settlement early in 1802.

A settlement was again attempted in 1804 as a place of secondary punishment for unruly convicts. The settlement was named Coal River and then re-named Newcastle, after England's famous coal port. The name first appeared by the commission issued by Governor King on March 15, 1804, to Lieut. Charles Menzies of the Royal Marines, appointing him superintendent of the new settlement.

The new settlement comprising convicts and a military guard, arrived at the Hunter River on March 27, 1804, in three ships, the Lady Nelson, the Resource and the James. The convicts were rebels from the 1804 Castle Hill convict rebellion, also known as the second Battle of Vinegar Hill.

The link with Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, its namesake and also from whence many of the 19th century coal miners came, is still obvious in some of the place-names - such as Jesmond, Hexham, Wickham and Wallsend.

[edit] Major Events

Looking towards the baths, from the Bogey Hole
Looking towards the baths, from the Bogey Hole

Newcastle remained a penal settlement for nearly 20 years. The military rule was harsh, often barbarious, and there was possibly no more notorious place of punishment in the whole of Australia than Limeburners' Bay, on the inner side of Stockton peninsula, where incorrigibles were sent to burn oyster shells for making lime.

Under Captain James Wallis, commandant from 1815 to 1818, the convicts' conditions improved, and a building boom began. Capt. Wallis laid out the streets of the town, built the first church of the site of the present Anglican Cathedral, erected the old gaol on the seashore, and began work on the breakwater which now joins Nobby's to the mainland. The quality of these buildings was poor and only (a much reinforced) breakwater survives.

For these works, and for his humane rule in the convict colony, Capt. Wallis earned the personal commendation of Governor Macquarie. In Governor Macquarie's opinion the prison colony was too close to Sydney and in any case the proper exploitation of the land was not practicable with prison labour.

Therefore, in 1823, military rule in Newcastle ended. The number of prisoners was reduced to 100 (most of these were employed on the building of the breakwater), and the remaining 900 were sent to Port Macquarie.

Freed for the first time from the infamous influence of the penal law, the town began to acquire the aspect of a typical Australian pioneer settlement, and a steady flow of free settlers poured into the hinterland.

Between 1826 and 1836 the convict-built Great North Road established the overland link with Sydney.

Coal mining began in earnest in the 1830s, with collieries working close to the city itself and others within a ten-mile radius. Most of Newcastle's principal coal mines (Stockton, Tighes Hill, Carrington, the Australian Agricultural Company, the Newcastle Coal Mining company's big collieries at Merewether (includes the Glebe), Wallsend, and the Waratah collieries), had all closed by the early 1960s, being steadily replaced over the previous four decades by the larger coal mining activities further inland at places such as Kurri Kurri and Cessnock.

On December 10, 1831 the Australian Agricultural Company officially opened Australia's first railway. On December 10, 2006 a plaque was unveiled on the southern shore of Newcastle Habour celebrating this event.

About 1850 a major copper smelting works was established at Burwood, near Merewether (now a suburb), an engraving of which appeared in the Illustrated London News on 11 February 1854. The English and Australian Copper Company built another substantial works at Broadmeadow circa 1890, and in that decade a zinc smelter was built inland, by Cockle Creek.

What was said to be the largest factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed in 1885, on a 22 acre site between the suburbs of Tighes Hill and Port Waratah, by Mr Charles Upfold (1834-1919), from London, for his Sydney Soap and Candle Company, to replace a smaller factory in Wickham. Their soap products won 17 medals at International Exhibitions, and at the Sydney International Exhibition they won a bronze medal "against all-comers from every part of the world", the only first prize awarded for soap and candles. Following World War I the company was sold to Messrs Lever & Kitchen (today Lever Bros), and the factory closed in the mid-1930s.

Aerial photograph looking over the city from the Pacific Ocean
Aerial photograph looking over the city from the Pacific Ocean

After a major steel strike in the Sydney basin, the State Government of NSW encouraged BHP to build a vast modern steel producing industry with American expertise. The land put aside was prime real estate, on the southern edge of the harbour. At one stage the idea of a Botanical Garden was considered because of the waterfront location and proximity to the wealthy suburb of Mayfield. In 1915 the BHP steelworks opened, beginning a period of some 80 years dominated by the steel works and heavy industry. As Mayfield and the suburbs surrounding the steelworks declined in popularity because of pollution, the steelworks thrived, becoming the region's largest employer. In 1999, the steelworks closed. Many workers, having spent their entire working lives there saw Australia's largest industrial shutdown complete as the last blast furnace went out. As the former workforce began to deal with the economic and emotional impact, Newcastle began to experience a new image as less of an industrial, smoke stack city.

On December 28, 1989, Newcastle experienced an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale which killed 13 people, injured 162 and destroyed or severely damaged a number of prominent buildings which had to be subsequently demolished. These included the large George Hotel in Scott Street (city), the Century Theatre at Broadmeadow, the Hunter Theatre (formerly 'The Star') at Merewether, and the majority of The Junction school, also at Merewether. Part of the Newcastle Workers' Club, a popular venue, was also damaged but later restored. The following economic recession of the early 1990s meant that the city took several years to recover.

[edit] Geography

The Stockton Ferry
The Stockton Ferry

Newcastle is located on the southern bank of the Hunter River at its mouth. The northern side is dominated by sand dunes, swamps and multiple river channels. A 'green belt' protecting plant and wildlife flanks the city from the west (Watagan mountains) around to the north where it meets the coast just north of Stockton. Because of this, urban development is mainly restricted to the hilly southern bank. The small village of Stockton sits opposite central Newcastle at the river mouth and is linked by ferry. Much of the city is undercut by the coal measures of the Sydney sedimentary basin, and what were once numerous coal-mining villages located in the hills and valleys around the port have merged into a single urban area extending southwards to Lake Macquarie.

[edit] Climate

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high (°C) 27.8 27.4 26.1 23.6 20.2 17.6 16.9 18.5 21.1 23.5 25.3 27.2 23.0
Average low (°C) 18.0 18.0 16.3 13.2 10.1 7.8 6.4 6.9 9.0 11.9 14.2 16.5 12.4
Warmest (°C) 44.1 42.8 40.7 37.0 29.6 26.6 27.8 30.1 36.0 39.4 43.2 42.8 44.1
Average precipitation (mm) 101.6 120.7 121.5 100.5 115.0 116.7 72.6 78.4 57.4 74.4 80.1 81.5 1120.4

Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

[edit] Demographics

The metropolitan area of Newcastle spreads over several Local Government Areas. The estimated population of the City of Newcastle at June 2004 was 145,633 (Australian Bureau of Statistics), but its neighbour, the City of Lake Macquarie, was actually larger, with an estimated 189,196 residents as of June 2004 (ABS). The combined population of the Newcastle area at the 2001 census was 470,610. This includes Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens and Cessnock local government areas.

[edit] Newcastle today

View from Fort Scratchley showing Nobbys Head
View from Fort Scratchley showing Nobbys Head

The Port of Newcastle remains the economic and trade centre for the resource rich Hunter Valley and for much of the north and northwest of New South Wales. Newcastle is the world's busiest coal export port and Australia's oldest and second largest tonnage throughput port, with over 3,000 shipping movements handling cargo in excess of 90 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), of which coal exports represent more than 90%. The volume of coal exported, and attempts to increase coal exports, are opposed by a number of small local environmentalist groups. Newcastle has a small ship building industry, which has declined since the 1970s due to failure to win government contract tenders.

With the closure of the steel works in 2000 many see the era of heavy industry as past. Many of the manufacturing industries have located themselves away from the city centre, focusing on cheap land and access to road transport routes and lack the concentrated social impact of BHP on the city's life.

Christ Church Cathedral dominates the skyline of Newcastle.
Christ Church Cathedral dominates the skyline of Newcastle.

The city's population is growing. The old city centre has seen some new apartments and hotels built in recent years, but the rate of commercial and retail occupation remains low as alternate suburban centres have become more important. The CBD itself is shifting to the west, towards the major urban renewal area known as "honeysuckle". This renewal, to run for another 10 years, is a major part of arresting the shift of business and residents to the suburbs.

The old central business district, located at Newcastle's eastern end, still has a considerable number of historic buildings, dominated by Christ Church Cathedral, seat of the (Anglican) Bishop of Newcastle. Other noteworthy buildings include Fort Scratchley, the Ocean Baths, the old Customs House, the 1920s City Hall, and the 1930s art deco University House (formerly NESCA House, recently seen in the film Superman Returns). Residents of Newcastle refer to themselves as "Novocastrians".

[edit] Domestic Architecture

A heritage area to the east of the Central Business District, centred around Christ Church Cathedral has many fine Victorian terrace houses, embedded in architecturally "sympathetic" later housing developments.


Victorian Terrace Streetscape

Very Rare Weatherboard Terrace Houses

Modern Sympathetic Development

[edit] Education

The University of Newcastle (formerly established in 1951 as part of the University of New South Wales) obtained its autonomy in 1965 and now with a student population of just over 20,000, it offers over 150 undergraduate and graduate courses. The university has one of the largest international student populations of any university in Australia. Along with Hunter Health, Hunter Institute of TAFE and the schools, the University is one of the largest employers in the region.

Together with six major city universities (Macquarie University, La Trobe University, Flinders University, Griffith University and Murdoch University) The University of Newcastle, with the identity of the only regional university, formed IRU Australia (IRUA) in 2003, one of the major university groupings in Australia. The University of Newcastle is also one of the first universities in Australia to provide Master of Business Administration course.

The University of Newcastle was ranked 127 in the world by the UK Times in 2005. One year after, both Melbourne institute of The University of Melbourne and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University recognised The University of Newcastle as one of the top ten universities in the Australia. Within the same year, Newsweek international ranked the University of Newcastle one of the top 100 universities in the world. The University is one of the only eight, as well as the only regional Australian Universities to have achieved this status.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Festivals

Newcastle holds a variety of Cultural Events and Festivals, many of which attract national and some even international attention.

This Is Not Art is a national festival of new media and arts held in Newcastle each year over the October long weekend. Since its humble beginnings in 1998, it has become one of the leading arts festivals in Australia dedicated to the work and ideas of communities not included in other major Australian arts festivals. The umbrella program includes the independent festivals Electrofringe, the National Young Writers' Festival, National Student Media Conference, Sound Summit and other projects that vary from year to year.

The Shootout Film Festival, first started in Newcastle in 1999. This is the film festival where film-makers come together in one place to make a short film in 24 hours. It is run annually in July.

Mattara, founded in 1961, is the official festival of Newcastle with a more traditional 'country fair' type program that combines a parade, rides, sporting events, band competitions and portrait and landscape painting exhibitions.

The Newcastle Jazz Festival is held across three days in August, and attracts performers and audiences from all over Australia.

These are just a few of the many festivals and street fairs held in Newcastle annually.

[edit] Music

Newcastle has an active youth music culture and was actually the most active music scene per capita in the whole world at one point. Silverchair, the highly successful Australian band, hail from Newcastle as do ska band The Porkers. Bon Scott & The Young Brothers all of AC/DC spent some of their childhood there. It has one of the most fertile punk and hardcore scenes in Australia, and over the past 15 years has spawned acts such as Disengage, Pitfall, Arms Reach, Found My Direction, Life Love Regret, Nihilist, Conation and The Dead Walk. The pioneering hardcore techno and gabber group Nasenbluten also came from Newcastle and spawned a vibrant and influential local scene and record label Bloody fist.

[edit] Visual Arts and Galleries

Newcastle is home to a wide range of public, commercial and private galleries. The Newcastle Regional Art Gallery (located in Laman Street, just off Darby Street) is home to an extensive collection of works by contemporary and historical Australian visual artists. It regularly presents local exhibitions from its collection and hosts touring Australian exhibitions. Gallery Director Nick Mitzevich is the youngest gallery director in Australia and has given the gallery a much more contemporary focus since he took over in 2002. [2]. The gallery is currently planning a major redevelopment which is the subject of an architectural design competition.

Newcastle was also the birthplace of noted Australian artist William Dobell.

[edit] Theatre

Newcastle has a variety of smaller theatres, but the main theatre in town is now the Civic, in Hunter Street, (seating capacity about 1500), one of Australia's great historic theatres built c1928 in the style of a Picture Palace. It hosts a wide range of musicals, plays, concerts, dance and other events each year. Newcastle previously boasted several large theatres: the Victoria, in Perkins Street (built 1890, capacity 1750), saw touring international opera companies such as the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and other troupes, and played host to some of the greatest stars of the age, such as Dame Nellie Melba, Gladys Moncrieff, and Richard Tauber, (it is now closed and derelict); the Century, Nineways, Broadmeadow, (built 1941, capacity 1800) although largely used as a cinema was a popular Symphony orchestra venue (demolished 1990); the Hunter (capacity 1000) at The Junction, had advanced modern stage facilities, but was destroyed by the 1989 earthquake. The decline in theatres and cinemas from the 1960s onwards was blamed on television.

[edit] Media Arts

Newcastle is home to the Octapod Association, a New Media Arts collective established in 1996. Octapod is one of Australia's most innovative regional arts organisations and presents the annual This Is Not Art Festival as well as a diverse range of local festivals and projects. The arts web sites Object Not Found and Art Crimes were also produced in Newcastle.

[edit] Sport

Energy Australia Stadium, looking across at the Western grandstand and grass seating
Energy Australia Stadium, looking across at the Western grandstand and grass seating

Newcastle's sports culture is centred on the Newcastle Knights, a team that plays in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League. The Knights play at EnergyAustralia Stadium, situated in the suburb of New Lambton. After a recent upgrade, the stadium now has capacity for almost 27,000 spectators. The stadium is the only sports venue of its class in Northern New South Wales. The Newcastle United Jets football (soccer) team, which plays in Australia's highest level comp the A-League, also play at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

Other major spectator and participant sports include Netball, Basketball, Football, Australian rules football, Rugby Union, Hockey and Surfing.

The Hunter Jaegers (Commonwealth Bank Trophy - Netball) are based at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Officially opened in June 1992, the Centre offers 5,000 square metres of clear span floor space and is capable of catering for capacities from 2,000 to 6,500 for entertainment style events. The Centre was built to house the now defunct Newcastle Falcons National Basketball League team and was also home to the Hunter Pirates before a lack of sponsorship forced them to relocate to Singapore after the 2005/06 season, where they were renamed the Singapore Slingers. The Slingers will play one home game at the Centre during the 2006/07 season.

In Cricket, Newcastle's No.1 Sports Ground was for many years a stopover on the tour itinerary for visiting international teams as they faced the Northern New South Wales XI. In 1981/82 the ground was allocated a Sheffield Shield match when the SCG was unavailable, and healthy crowds saw No.1 then become host to at least one first-class fixture featuring the New South Wales Blues each year. Newcastle also hosts a suburban competition of its own and has been the birthplace of many New South Wales and Australian representative cricketers.

Newcastle Jockey Club
Newcastle Jockey Club

Newcastle Jockey Club Limited races 35 times annually at Broadmeadow, a spacious 2000m turf track with a 415m home straight. Broadmeadow Racecourse is only a few minutes from the city centre, and is acknowledged as one of the finest provincial racetracks in Australia.

Newcastle has an abundance of Beaches and Surf Breaks, for which the city is internationally well known. Newcastle hosts the annual surfing contest 'Surfest' on the world professional surfing tour. Four time world champion surfer Mark Richards grew up surfing at Newcastle's Merewether Beach, and is a local icon, appearing at many local functions, and supporting local charities. Nobbys beach is a very popular kitesurfing spot, especially during the warm summer months when there are North Easterly sea breezes.

The Newcastle North Stars are Newcastle's representatives in the Australian Ice Hockey League championships. Originally based in Newcastle West in the 1970-80s, the North Stars now play out of the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay. The North Stars have won national championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006 since joining the league in 2002. The North Stars have also been awarded Newcastle's Outstanding Senior Team of the Year for 2003 and 2004.

Newcastle Golf Club is a championship 18-hole, par 72 golf course. It plays to 6160m, and is regarded as one of the best in Australia - consistently appearing in the top 15 best rated courses in Australia.

[edit] Media

Newcastle is served by a daily tabloid, The Herald (formerly The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate and then The Newcastle Herald), several weeklies including the Newcastle Star, The Post and the bi-monthly The Hunter Advocate.

The city is also served by several local radio stations, including those owned by the ABC and SBS.

Newcastle is also served by 5 television stations, three commercial and two national services, and by Foxtel pay television.

[edit] Transport

Newcastle's City Bus Interchange
Newcastle's City Bus Interchange
Newcastle Railway Station
Newcastle Railway Station

[edit] Road

Newcastle is connected to surrounding cities by the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway (South), New England Highway (West) and the Pacific Highway (North).

[edit] Bus

Main article: Newcastle bus routes, New South Wales

Bus services within Newcastle are operated by Newcastle Buses & Ferries, a subsidiary of the State Transit Authority of New South Wales. Trips within a designated area of the Newcastle CBD on State Transit-operated bus services are fare-free under the Newcastle Alliance's Free City Buses programme.

The network radiates from a bus terminal near CityRail's Newcastle station, on the waterfront of Newcastle's CBD. Major interchanges are located at the University of Newcastle, Wallsend, Glendale, Warners Bay, Belmont, Charlestown, Westfield Kotara and Broadmeadow station. To reduce journey times, bus-only lanes are in operation on certain major roads in Newcastle.

[edit] Rail

Main article: Newcastle and Central Coast railway line, New South Wales

Newcastle is serviced by two CityRail lines providing local and regional commuter services. The Newcastle & Central Coast Line has hourly train services to Sydney and more frequent services to the Central Coast. The Hunter Line has twice-hourly services to Maitland and less frequently to Scone and Dungog. Countrylink (an intercity/interstate rail service) operate two lines through the Newcastle area using Broadmeadow station. These provide services to Moree, Armidale, Brisbane and Sydney.

Newcastle once had rail passenger services to Belmont and Toronto, on Lake Macquarie, Wallsend, Kurri Kurri and several towns and villages between Maitland and Cessnock, but these lines have today been closed. Since the late 1990s, there had been intense debate about the viability of the rail line into central Newcastle. The New South Wales government had planned to cut the line at Broadmeadow, ceasing rail services into the city and to sell the land where the railway ran for development. The State government has subsequently decided, since Premier Morris Iemma took power, and at least partly in response to a huge public outcry, to keep the rail service.

[edit] Water

Main article: Newcastle Port Corporation

The Port of Newcastle is crucial to the economic life of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley region beyond. Over 70 million tonnes of coal is shipped through the facility each year - making it the largest coal exporting port in the world. The Port of Newcastle claims to be Australia's first port. Coal was first exported from the harbour in 1799, 11 years after the start of European settlement in Australia.

Newcastle Buses & Ferries operates a ferry service across the Hunter River between Newcastle's CBD and Stockton.

[edit] Air

Main article: Newcastle Airport (Williamtown)

The Newcastle Airport is located 15 km north of the city, a 20 minute drive. The airport, which is a joint venture between Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Shire Council, has experienced rapid growth since 2000 as a result of an increase in low cost airline operations. It is served by Virgin Blue, Qantas, Jetstar, and Brindabella Airlines. The airport is shared with RAAF Base Williamtown, a Royal Australian Air Force base.

[edit] Notable Novocastrians

[edit] Gallery

Newcastle CBD from the Obelisk

Watt Street, Newcastle

Bar Beach

[edit] References

    • Greater Newcastle City Council, Newcastle 150 Years, 1947.
    • Thorne, Ross, Picture Palace Architecture in Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, 1976 (P/B), ISBN 0-7251-0226-8
    • Turner, Dr. John W., Manufacturing in Newcastle, Newcastle, 1980, ISBN 0-9599385-7-5
    • Docherty, James Cairns, Newcastle - The making of an Australian City, Sydney, 1983, ISBN 0-86806-034-8
    • Morrison James, Ron, Newcastle - Times Past, Newcastle, 2005 (P/B), ISBN 0-9757693-0-8

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

    Coordinates: 32°55′S, 151°45′E


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